Dutch BaroqueDutch Baroque

DUTCH FREEDOMThe Dutch succeeded in securing their independence from the Spanish in the late sixteenth century. Not until 1648, however, after years of continual border skirmishes with the Spanish were the northern Netherlands officially recognized as the United Provinces of the Netherlands ( The Dutch Republic ).

DUTCH MONEYAmsterdam had the highest per capita income in Europe. That city emerged as the financial center of Europe, having founded the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609.

DUTCH GOVERNMENTDue to this prosperity and the absence of an absolute ruler, political power increasingly passed into the hands of an urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers, especially in cities such as Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft. That these bustling cities were all located in Holland ( the largest of the seven United Provinces ) perhaps explains why the name “Holland” is used informally to refer to the entire country.

DUTCH RELIGIONWhile Spain and the southern Netherlands were Catholic, the northern Netherlands were predominantly Protestant. The prevailing Calvinism demanded a puritanical rejection of art in churches, and thus artists produced relatively little religious art in the Dutch Republic at this time (especially when compared to areas dominated by Catholicism in the wake of the Counter- Reformation.)

Plebian Portraits

Genre Paintings

0Landscapes

Still Lifes

Frans Hals

Frans Hals, Banquet of the Officers ofthe St George Militia Company, 1616.

Frans Hals. Officers and Sergeants of the St Hadrian Civic Guard. c. 1633.

Frans Hals. The Governors Of The Old Mena Almhouse At Haarlem, 1664.

Frans HalsBuffoon (Jester) Playing

A Lute1623

Frans HalsThe Laughing Cavalier

1624

Frans HalsThe Laughing Child

1620-1625

Frans HalsThe Jolly Toper

(or The Merry Drinker)1628-1630

Frans HalsLute Player WithWine Glass1626.

Frans HalsPortrait of Rene Descartres

c1649.

Rembrandt van RijnSelf-Portrait1660

Rembrandt van Rijn, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, 1632.

Rembrandt van RijnThe Nightwatch1642

The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and of Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh is more commonly known as Night Watch. This common title is , however, as misnomer- Night Watch is not a nocturnal scene.

Not your typical group portrait…

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild (The Staalmeesters) 1662.

Judith LeysterSelf-Portrait1630

Judith LeysterA Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eelc1635

Judith LeysterMan Offering A Woman Money1631

Judith LeysterBoy Playing a Flute

1630

Jan SteenThe Feast of St. Nicholas

c. 1660-65

Oil on canvas

Jan VermeerThe LaceMaker1665-1670

Jan VermeerAllegory of the Art of Painting1670

Jan VermeerThe Letter1630

Jan VermeerThe Music Lesson

1662-1665

Jan VermeerYoung Woman with

a Water Pitcherc1665

Jan VermeerThe Guitar Player

1670

Jan VermeerThe Kitchenmaidc1658

Jan VermeerGirl With a Pearl

Earring1665

Willem Claez HedaStill Life with Oysters, c. 1640s

Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628.

Willem Claez HedaStill Life with Tobacco, Wine and Pocket Watch , 1637.

Willem Claez HedaBanquet Piece with Mince Pie, 1635 .

Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil, 1644

Jakob Van Ruisdael, Benthein Castle, 1653.

Salomon van Ruisdael, View of Deventer Seen from the North-West, 1657.

Jan Vermeer, View of Delft, c1661.

Jakob Ruisdael, Landscape With Church and Village, 1665-70.

Jacob van Ruisdael, Windmill at Wijk-bij-Duurst-ede, c1665.